NCA Appeals for More Aid to Bring Down Rise in Organised Crime

NCA Appeals for More Aid to Bring Down Rise in Organised Crime

On Sunday, Lynne Owens, the Director-General of the National Crime Agency(NCA) made a statement that the organised crime is targeting a lot more victims than terrorism, war and natural disasters combined. The agency also stated that there is a need of financial aid to get it under control.

Ms. Owens also in her interview said, “Against a backdrop of globalisation, extremism and technological advances, serious and organised crime is changing fast and law enforcement needs significant new investment to help combat it.”

The National Crime Agency will publish its thorough evaluation on Tuesday. In the evaluation, NCA will reveal how the perpetrators are using technological advancement and traditional methods to execute organised crimes. This combination might be one of the reasons why the law authorities are experiencing difficulties in stopping such crimes and nabbing the criminals.

Recently, the NCA confiscated belongings and property of worth millions of pounds from Amanda Nuttall due to reasons of money laundering. Award winning White Horse Hotel and a Bentley are among some of the assets seized after the involvement of money laundering was discovered.

Along with Mrs. Nuttall, her two accessories Property developer Eric Grove and Barrister Timothy Becker also gave up some of their assets. Investigators looking into the business of her husband Jonathan Nuttall said that he amassed the wealth illegally and held it in his wife’s name.

They also believe that Mr. Nuttall was involved in international money laundering and he is responsible for the transfer of hundreds of millions of pounds, made through various accounts of Hong Kong, Russia, Switzerland and UK.

According to Andy Lewis, the Head of Asset Denial in National Crime Agency said, “Jonathan Nuttall amassed considerable wealth as a result of his and others’ unlawful conduct.”

“He is not himself a party to the claim. That is because he structured his business affairs so that he didn’t hold any of the recoverable property himself,” he added.

According to the UK government, organised crimes alone cost £37 billion per year to the UK economy.

With continuous enhancement in the methods to conduct organised crimes, National Crime Agency might need to develop its ways to apprehend the offenders and curb the cases. Ms Owens’ suggestion of more aid to the agency might also help to put an end to the rapidly rising number of organised crimes.

1 killed and 8 injured after two students opened fire in Colorado School

According to the Douglas County sheriff officials, the 18-year-old Devon Erickson and a juvenile student rushed into the classrooms of STEM School Highlands Ranch, Colorado, on Tuesday afternoon, causing havoc in the corridors.

Within a few minutes, the suspects were engaged and taken into custody by the Douglas County sheriff officials.

Eight victims, of age 15 and older, received treatment at local hospitals, including two who were in critical condition. At least four other victims were released the same day. No employees or teachers were injured in the shooting, authorities have confirmed.

Sheriff Tony Spurlock said that the motive behind shooting was unclear, and the officials have not received any information about someone being particularly targeted by the juvenile shooters.

The FBI and Denver’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were rendering assistance in the investigation.

In an official statement, the White House said that the tragic incident was reported back to President Donald Trump, and he is monitoring the situation.

“Tragically, this community and those surrounding it know all too well these hateful and horrible acts of violence,” Judd Deere, the White House deputy press secretary, said. “We offer our full support to local law enforcement and first responders and thank them for their heroism.”

The STEM School and other nearby schools were completely evacuated and locked-down for many hours, as stated by the Douglas County School District.

Over 1,850 students in elementary, middle, and high school have been enrolled in STEM School, according to its website.

STEM School is situated close to the Columbine High School, where 13 people were shot dead by two students on April 20, 1999. The incident was so far the worst in US’s history.

London Stabbings: Blood Spilled Day Witnesses Death and Injury

Consuming lives at a nerve-wrecking pace, a pest named stabbing has added another infamous death to its list. A 29-year-old man was reportedly stabbed on Frampton Park Road in Hackney, London. However, it was not only the case reported in a day, with another victim reportedly stabbed, luckily escaping death, the cops informed.

Following the death of the 29-year-old, the detectives opened inquiry and have successfully caught hold of the suspect in the process.

Name of the victim hasn’t been confirmed by the police. However, he was described as a “decent young man” by a local youth worker and former schoolmate, Hannah. “It’s got to the point that the kids don’t value lives anymore. It’s just sad that this couldn’t have been prevented, “she said condemning the move.

Further commenting on the brutal activity, she affirmed that the antisocial behavior was pretty common in the area, with very minimal amount of people paying heed to the matter. “These are our kids that are dying,” she added showcasing the attention that the matter requires.

First information of the incident was reported at around 3pm and saw the 29-year-old pronounced dead, only a while after he was taken to the hospital. Likewise, a second incident, which took place just half-a-mile apart, also witnessed a man getting severely injured and taken to the hospital, where his situation was later confirmed as stable.

Dean Saliba, an eyewitness of the aftermath of the first killing said “I turned up after. Someone in the shop said he was stabbed in the back as he ran to escape”. “He was having a seizure when I arrived and there was a lot of blood,” she added.

Scotland Yard confirmed that one man was arrested on charges of suspicion of inflicting bodily harm and was taken in custody. A London ambulance service spokeswoman said it dispatched the air ambulance to deal with the first case, adding: “We treated a person at the scene and took them to hospital as a priority.”

London has been stuck midst knife stabbings for years now. Besides, even with measures such as increased government spending, the numbers have multiplied signaling the failure of government to control the youth of committing such horrendous crimes.

Series of Knife Crime Incidences Leave Two Critically Injured

Recently, a woman and three men became the latest
victims of spiked knife crime incidences in the capital. The attacks took place
on the weekend within the interval of 15 hours between Saturday night and
Sunday morning.

The victims were stabbed in the back, out of which two
are in critical condition. The Metropolitan Police Service has increased the
patrolling and implemented stop and search power. Two men have been arrested
and the authorities have asked the public to stay alert.

A 45-year-old woman, who was stabbed on Saturday
evening, is said to be in a critical condition. A couple of hours later, a 52-year-old
man was attacked with a knife, but escaped with some minor injuries.

A 23-year-old, who was stabbed at Seven Sisters Tube
Station on Sunday at 4am, is also in a critical condition. Six hours later, a
29-year-old man suffered with life affecting injuries after being stabbed.

Since the beginning of the year, such knife crime
incidences are being reported every couple of days. On 1st January two people
were stabbed to death at separate places. Two security guards were injured in
Park Lane, trying to apprehend the accused after he injured a woman.

Several teens have also been made target of knife crimes. Among such attacks, many were fatal incidents like that of Jodi Chesney and Jaden Moodie. The incidents have been reported from all over the capital. A rise of 14 percent in murders, eight percent in knife crimes and 19 percent in violent crimes has been recorded.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid has asked the police
officers to establish Section 60 at their own will. This will help the police to search any
suspect in the vicinity to prevent further crimes.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has implemented a new law since 18th February to minimise knife crime incidences. A tracking device will be attached to the people having a history of violence and knife crimes for a year.

Giving the right to impose section 60 will not be very
effective in bringing an end to such crimes. Last year, the searches conducted
on the black people were 19 percent more than the ones carried on the white people.
In most of the searches, the black population was found to be innocent.

Imposing Section 60 will only be time consuming and might
reduce the trust of people in police. It might also prove ineffective in stopping
the citizens from carrying a knife.

During 2010-2017, a drop of more than 20,000 police
officers has been recorded. This significant decrease in police officers might
be hindering to put an end to the ongoing knife crime incidences.

Knife crimes can be reduced with advanced CCTV monitoring in public places and proper verification of knife buyers. The public, too, needs to stop being a spectator when such crimes take place and instead come forward to help the victims and report it to the appropriate authorities.

Jodi Chesney Murder: Police Appeals Witnesses to Come Forward

Jodie
Chesney, a 17-year old girl, was stabbed to death on Friday night on St
Neot’s Road in Harold Hill, Romford.

The police
said, Chesney, who is an A-level student, was playing music with friends before
she was stabbed in the back without any warning. As per the latest statement by
the Metropolitan Police, two men who stabbed the teenager didn’t say anything
before leaving her fatally injured.

Homicide
detectives are looking for the killers. One of the attackers is believed to be
a black male in his late teens. Information about the other suspect has not
been released.

A 49-year
old woman, Teresa Farenden, who lives near the park, heard Chesney’s
boyfriend crying for help after the attack.

“It
was horrific, it was just the blood,” she told The Times.

Farenden tried performing CPR, including chest compression, on the girl – without releasing that the knife used in the attack was still stuck in her back.

“I
didn’t see it because it was dark,” she said.”I didn’t realise at the
time, but all I kept thinking once the police told me, was ‘Have I put the
knife in further by giving her compressions?'”

According
to the police, the Chesney’s group first saw the two men half an hour before
the attack in the park.

“They left around 9pm without interacting with Jodie or
her friends,” according to the statement.

“Around 30 minutes later the pair returned to the park and
walked straight towards the group, where one of the males stabbed Jodie once in
the back. Nothing was said by the two suspects, who ran off in the direction of
Retford Road.”

Post-mortem report concluded that the death was caused due to trauma and haemorrhage.

“There has been excellent support from the local community
and a number of people have shared information with police, but there will be
other witnesses and people with information that may prove crucial,” Whellams
said.

“Although the description of the suspect is limited, I am
certain that people will have seen the two males hanging around the park or
running away from the scene – or will otherwise have noticed something
suspicious. I need those people to call me.”

Debbie Chesney, grandmother of Jodie Chesney, described the killing as an “unprovoked
attack” on a Facebook post.

“How have we come to this point where kids can’t have a walk
in a park without suffering an unprovoked attack?” she said.

27,000 Children Mobilised by Criminal Gangs, Report Claims

The findings of a recent study carried out by the children’s commissioner suggested that around 27,000 children have been recruited directly or indirectly by ruthless criminals into gangs.

There is a systematic pattern through which gangs
recruit vulnerable children and exploit them by pushing them towards violence
and crime. They arm youngsters with weapons triggering the impulsive violence
in the country.

The affected children that have been identified during
the study were not the ones in the records, raising fears that most of the
child gang members unknown to authorities may be victims to sex grooming too.

The report has also specified that the pattern of targeting
children validates that the gangs target boys and girls aged between 10-17
years, who easily fall prey to the malicious plans of the gangs. It has also
been reported that the adolescent ego is being pushed to join such gangs for
gaining respect from their elders.

“There’s a sense of those pushing you to do it, but at the end of
the day the decision comes to you,” says one of the targeted youngster.

According to him, “When you sit down
and speak to some of these youths, they’re lost. When I mean lost, in the sense
of, they’re literally following and going along with it. A lot of them don’t
know who they are or what they want to do.

“They just want to do what seems to
be cool and on top of that to be fair there’s nothing really to do.”

Further findings of the report suggest
that most of the youngsters involved felt the same way. Many just became a part
of the gang due to their location, family or wider associations.

However, the remaining children who joined
for reasons were majorly targeted through alternate techniques similar to those
used to grooming for sexual abuse.

As per media statement given by Children’s
commissioner Anne Longfield, the report has only provided skeleton information
on the number of children in the gangs or the help they are getting or may get
from these gangs.

The worrisome fact is that there has been
little or no learning from the decade ago failings from child sexual
exploitation and yet again a large number of children are at the risk of being
a victim.

Most of the vulnerable children might
never be able to recover from such an experience, leaving a lasting impact on
their social, emotional and mental health.